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Cox: Unsigned Coyote might be an option for Leaf

On the surface a moderately-sized, non-physical centre without a lengthy resume of NHL success wouldn’t be a player at the top of the Maple Leafs’ wish list.

And right now,Kyle Turris, unsigned and persona non grata in the Phoenix Coyotes camp isn’t a player Brian Burke is desperately trying to land.

Burke, you see, has great hopes that Matthew Lombardi will be both healthy by the start of the NHL regular season and capable of delivering speed and some numbers from the third-line centre position.

Every team has a best-case scenario at this time of year, and for the Leafs that includes James Reimer picking up where he left off last season and an improved depth chart up the middle with Tim Connolly on the top unit, Mikhail Grabovski centring the No. 2 line, Lombardi in the three-hole and Tyler Bozak set to be a fourth-liner after being a first-liner last season.

Best-case scenarios, of course, have a way of evaporating. For the Leafs it’s really not at all certain whether Lombardi, still not cleared for contact, will indeed be ready for the start of the season or able to shake off his lengthy concussion history to play anything close to a full season.

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If it becomes evident in the next little while he can’t, the Leafs may get very interested in the 22-year-old Turris and in a hurry.

There have been some preliminary discussions on the possibility of a deal between the Leafs and Coyotes although Kurt Overhart, Turris’ agent, may be the driving force in any chats that have taken place.

The cost? Probably Bozak who had more points (32) than Turris last year (25) but in more games and with a minus-29 to boot. Both are right-handed shooting centres and Bozak’s price tag — $1.5 millon for this season and next — would fit the Phoenix payroll more comfortably than the $3-4 million that rumours suggest Turris is seeking.

“(His) position is just so illogical from our standpoint,” said a frustrated Don Maloney, GM of the Coyotes, who also lost pivot Eric Belanger to free agency over the summer.

Turris was the third pick of the ’07 draft behind Patrick Kane and James Van Riemsdyk. Kane has four years left on a deal that pays him $6.3 million per season while Van Riemsdyk recently signed a new extension with a cap hit of $4.25 million for the next six seasons after somewhat of a breakthrough season last year.

Maybe Turris will soon start playing like the two players taken before him and thus the inflated wage demands. Or just maybe he was the third player in a two-player draft. Certainly the players taken after Turris — Thomas Hickey, Karl Alzner, Sam Gagner, Jakub Voracek, Zach Hamill — suggest this wasn’t the deepest draft although Logan Couture at No. 9 has paid off handsomely so far for San Jose.

The suggestion is that some in the multi-voiced Leaf front office admire Turris’s raw talent while others don’t. There are some in hockey who think he might be a bust, others who think he might thrive in a different system than that which has proved rather successful for Dave Tippett in the desert.

Sounds a little bit like the Phil Kessel scenario doesn’t it? Kessel however had already shown concrete signs of being a top-flight NHL scorer while the 11 goals and 14 assists registered by Turris in 62 games last season were hardly evidence of a player about to fulfill his promise.

He’s not big although there are suggestions he’s filling out at about 200 pounds and he was one of the better Coyotes in the ugly first-round loss to Detroit last spring. Speculation is his contract demands may just be an attempt to get out of the Phoenix organization.

In addition to Lombardi’s future, meanwhile, the Leafs are closely watching big Joe Colborne to see if he’s anywhere close to being able to make the jump to the NHL. Colborne clearly fits the bill of a physical presence down the middle much better than Turris but he might need another full season in the AHL.

Logic suggests that if you have the chance to get a talent like Turris and the cost is Bozak you do it. But at the same time Bozak still has upside and if Turris is something equivalent to a modern-day Brandon Convery you’re just taking on another team’s frustrations.

This isn’t a deal that is about to happen by any means. But watch Lombardi when he’s cleared and Colborne and see how their training camps go. If best-case scenarios for the Leafs evaporate the phone lines could heat up quickly.

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